Dandelion salad
Bitter just enough, the first dandelion salad announces spring and wakes the appetite.
The young dandelion rosettes, gathered before they bolt into flower, are eaten raw. Their bitterness, softened by a well-seasoned vinaigrette and an egg or a few walnuts, traditionally stimulates digestion. It's one of the oldest wild salads of the calendar.
Ingredients
- Young dandelion leaves1 salad bowl
tender rosettes, before flowering
- Walnut or olive oil3 tbsp
- Cider vinegar1 tbsp
- 1 tsp
- Hard-boiled egg or walnuts1-2
optional, to soften the bitterness
Steps
- 1
Gather and wash
Harvest the young rosettes before the flower, in a clean meadow. Wash carefully in several changes of water (soil hides in them).
15 min
- 2
Prepare the vinaigrette
Emulsify the mustard, vinegar, salt, and oil. A well-seasoned vinaigrette balances the bitterness of the dandelion.
5 min
- 3
Assemble
Mix the leaves with the vinaigrette just before serving. Add the hard-boiled egg in quarters or the crushed walnuts.
5 min
Storage
To be eaten as soon as it's seasoned; the leaves keep 2 days in the fridge before preparation.
How to use it
As a starter, at the beginning of the meal, the bitterness opens the appetite.
Health properties
- Traditionally reputed to be appetite-stimulating and favourable to digestion, the bitterness stimulating the digestive secretions.
- A source of vitamins (A, C, K) and potassium; reputed to be cleansing in old herbalism.
These preparations belong to cooking and herbal tradition: they nourish and support, do not “cure” anything and replace no treatment. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before prolonged use, if under treatment, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for a child. Follow the stated storage precautions strictly.
Precautions
Dandelion has a recognised diuretic effect: caution in case of diuretic treatment or low blood pressure. Like any low-growing plant eaten raw, it carries a risk of alveolar echinococcosis (eggs of the fox tapeworm): wash thoroughly in plenty of water, and on ground frequented by foxes, prefer cooking (above 60 °C; freezing does not destroy the eggs). Gather far from roads and treated areas. In case of gallstones, seek medical advice.
Sources & tradition
- · F.-J. Cazin, *Traité pratique des plantes médicinales de France* (Taraxacum)
- · François Couplan, *Le régal végétal*